310 The Story of the New England Whalers 



and who should be the executioner. Owen Coffin 

 drew the death lot and Charles Ramsdale the 

 other. When the lot had fallen, the captain 

 begged Ramsdale to kill him instead of Coffin, 

 who was Pollard's cousin; but Coffin refused to 

 permit this to be done. Coffin's flesh was eaten. 

 On February n Barzilla Ray died of exhaustion, 

 leaving Pollard and Ramsdale alone in the boat. 

 They were found in a delirium by the whale ship 

 Dauphin, which arrived with them at Valparaiso 

 on March 17. The boat of the second mate was 

 never heard from. The men left on Ducie's 

 Island endured terrible suffering, but were rescued 

 by a British vessel before life was gone. 



"The story of the Essex's loss and of the dire 

 necessity to which the survivors were reduced, 

 preceded Captain Pollard to Nantucket. Eye- 

 witnesses of the scene on his return say that the 

 cliffs and wharves were lined with spectators, and 

 that he walked to his home through an awe- 

 struck, silent crowd." (Gustav Kobbe, in Cen- 

 tury Magazine.} 



Pollard sailed in command of the ship Two 

 Brothers in 1821, but she was lost on a coral 



